Washington, May 23
A SpaceX rocket on Wednesday blasted off a duo of sports car-sized satellites built by the US and Germany to reveal changes in sea level rise, ice melt and drought on Earth.
“Three, two, one, liftoff!” said a SpaceX commentator as the Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 12:47 pm Pacific time (1947 GMT).
The USD 521 million payload, called the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO), was successfully deployed into its planned orbit some 500 kilometers above the Earth about 10 minutes after liftoff.
The mission picks up from GRACE, a satellite pair that launched in 2002 and tracked, among other things, precisely how much ice was lost each year in Greenland and Antarctica until 2017.
Groundwater, oceans, lakes, rivers and ice sheets will be monitored by the twin satellites, a joint mission between the US space agency and German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
The pair will fly 220 kilometers apart, or about the distance from ...

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, May 21
Indicating that the pollution levels in Buddha Nullah continue to be a threat to ecology, biodiversity and health of people, a Sri Lankan student, who carried out a research study at Desh Bhagat University, as part of his PhD, has found that toxicity of the nullah waters is a danger to its catchment area and beyond. The finding was part of a comparative study of pollution in Buddha Nullah here and the Kelani river in Sri Lanka. The study was carried out by Ravindra Gunavardana, a PhD student at Desh Bhagat University.
Heavy metals beyond limit at Walligpur Kalan village
The student found presence of heavy metals, including arsenic, mercury, cadmium, chromium, thallium and lead, in the nullah. In fact, the presence of arsenic was double the amount of maximum permissible limit at Walligpur Kalan. Even cadmium was much above the permissible limits. It is causing several problems, including destruction of biodiversity besides several health problems.
Not just the heavy ...

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, May 20
Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has announced that the supply of potable water through canal is under process, but residents are worried about the water quality as tonnes of fish have been found dead in Beas recently due to “poisonous” chemical getting mixed in the water body.
Experts have been advocating for introducing canal-based drinking water supply after getting an alarming feedback about bad quality of water in the city. The government will provide the treated water under the project.
According to the government’s plan, the surface water scheme will replace the existing groundwater supply, thus addressing a serious concern related to the depletion of groundwater and increase in cases of vector-borne diseases.
Sidhu on Saturday said in-principle approval had been accorded to the canal-based water supply project costing Rs 3,500 crore for Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala to check the rapid decline and deterioration of groundwater. As per the plan, the ...

The escort vehicle of a top Aurangabad district official was attacked by sand mafia in the district today, police said.
Superintendent of Police Satya Prakash said the sand mafia attacked the escort vehicle of District Magistrate Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal near Tejpura village under Daudnagar police station area of the district.
Acting on a tip-off that illegal sand mining was going on from Sone river in and around Tejpura village, Mahiwal went to the spot and directed the police to seize three sand laden tractors from the directive, the SP said.
When the cops went to seize the three tractors, sand mafia henchmen attacked the policemen in which three constables received minor injuries, the SP said adding they were treated at a nearby hospital.
One of the attackers has been arrested in this regard.
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